Add MS 8244

LATIN DICTIONARY; 2nd quarter of 13th cent. and 1st half of 14th cent. Latin. A general Latin dictionary written in the 2nd quarter of the 13th century with numerous marginal annotations in two 14th-century hands, inc. (f. 1) 'A est pater piissimus monachorum quem veritas', expl. (f. 160) 'scorpius, sagittarium, capricornum, piscem, aquarium'. This primary text is irregularly interleaved with another general Latin dictionary written in the 1st half of the 14th century, apparently in the same hand as the earlier annotations added to the primary text, inc. (f. 2) 'Absida igitur latet interpretatio lucida', expl. (f. 160v) 'Zoziaticum siderale. Zozia signa'. The definitions in both texts are short descriptions without citations. The margins of the primary text contain references to the many classical, biblical, patristic and later sources of the definitions. Add. 28965 is another, shorter 13th-cent. version of this text. The secondary text is based on Papias's 'Elementarium doctrinae erudimentum', which was written circa 1053. Papias's work, which was also one of the sources for the primary text in this volume, survives in many manuscript copies including Add. 14806, 14807 (both 15th cent.). See Ll. W. Daly and B. A. Daly, 'Some Techniques in Medieval Latin Lexicography', Speculum, xxxix (1964), pp. 229-239. The pages of the primary text have initial letters of entries and some capitals touched in red, red-line fillers and abbreviated marginal references to sources in red. Some folios of the secondary text also have capitals touched red. In the primary text, the major initials at the beginning of each letter of the dictionary are red or black, and most are decorated with red or black penwork. Armorial bookplate of 5th Earl of Guilford (f. i); shelfmark L/19/C (f. ii). '27' in pencil in upper left corner of ff. i, ii. Purchased from R. H. Evans, 8 December 1830, lot 27.

Vellum; ff. ii+162. circa 184 x circa 135mm. Horizontal catchwords in lower right margins of ff. 19v, 39v, 60v, 78v, 95v, 113v. Primary text ruled in two columns of 44 lines, with total text area circa 138 x circa 87mm. Full vellum binding on pasteboards, 18th cent.